Monthly Archives: September 2008

In the Veggietales episode Sheerluck Holmes and the Golden Ruler, there’s a short called “The Asparagus of La Mancha,” where Archibald is a restaurant order named Don who goes to war against a windmill-themed chain restaraunt across the street.

In one segment, Don changes his restaurant to a Starbucks-style cafe with the motto: “Joppa Java: Why pay a little bit for coffee when you can pay a lot?”

It is well established outside the US that adult stem cell therapy works, and that it is fairly simple and inexpensive (sample the patient’s own stem cells, sometimes from saliva, sometimes from bone marrow; adapt them as necessary; culture them; inject them back into the relevant body part of the original patient and watch the damage heal).

For years now, the pro-life community has been reporting advances in adult stem cell therapy, while the MSM remains silent, and advocates of embryonic stem cell research claim that pro-lifers have made up their facts on ASCR.

Well, here’s an ABC news story about a Texas police officer who was healed from paralysis by stem cell treatment he received in China. Not only that, but it’s a Yahoo! Headline!

I’m sure the Left will find some way to steer this as a story in favor of embryonic stem cell research. If they were honest, they would adopt as their motto a paraphrase of Mr. Lunt’s “Poncho”:

“Embryonic Stem Cell Research: why pay a little for treatment when you can pay a lot?”

Now, obviously I disagree with some of his disagreements with Bush (e.g., ESCR, and I’m hoping his position there will change), but given that torture is a big albatross for the GOP, and McCain has been waffling a bit on it during this campaign, hopefully he will come out now with a strong anti-torture position, eliminating one of the arguments Catholics have against him.

When the protesters first gathered at the gate, people with conventionpasses were able squeeze behind them to get through. When protesters satdown in the street, Terry asked an aide for the “red phone,” a cell phone heused to call police. He could be heard saying “Lieutenant, we’re here at thegate.”Then some of the protesters moved closer to the gate, blocking it. Secret Service officers shut it and directed convention-goers to another gate. Protesters sang a Catholic hymn, “Salve Regina.” They said one Hail Mary for the police officers before a lieutenant approached them. Reading from a card, he cited the city ordinance they were violating and warned them they would have to leave or be arrested.After he read the warning for a second time, things went slightly off script. Some bystanders began to call on police to arrest the protesters immediately. One man shouted that protesters were terrorists. A protester shouted back, “What do you callabortion?” An officer told the crowd the protesters would be gone in a few minutes.

The lieutenant read the third warning, and Terry reminded anyone who wanted to leave to do so. As officers lined up to remove the protesters, they began to chant: “Deny Biden communion.”

Younger people did cartwheels. Tourists came by to check out the spectacle. The chants, which were political at the outset, turned silly a couple hours in.“You’re sexy, you’re cute, take off the riot suit,” protesters serenaded those blocking their path.

On a tangential note, I was surprised to learn that Randall Terry converted to Catholicism in 2005. Prior to that, he divorced his first wife in 2000, married a woman with whom he’d already been committing adultery. One of his kids is now a Muslim, and another is gay.